Police officer fires warning shots to disperse violent protesters after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is arrested and expelled from Parliament

After the emergency ended, Indira Gandhi was arrested twice, on different charges. The first time was in 1977, for corruption involving a contract between the ONGC and a French oil company, a case which was dismissed a day later. ¹ In 1978, the Parliament voted to expel and imprison Indira Gandhi for breach of privilege and contempt of the House, alleging that Indira Gandhi obstructed inquiries into Sanjay Gandhi’s Maruti factory. She was released a week later.²

The protest in Delhi was covered by William Borders of the New York Times:

In New Delhi, more than a thousand of Mrs. Gandhi’s supporters, facing arrest for violating bans on street marches, lined up voluntarily to be taken into custody. A police truck was set on fire, and several groups of marchers tried to take their demonstrations to Parliament, but the building was heavily guarded and they were blocked some distance away.

Even more interesting than the arrest itself, is the story of two Indian Youth Congress members who hijacked a plane with a toy gun and cricket ball to demand Indira Gandhi’s release. They eventually became members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative assembly from the INC, only two years later. Read more here.

Source caption

A New Delhi police officer fires into the air to disperse a crowd of stone-throwing demonstrators protesting former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s arrest and expulsion from Parliament, Dec. 20, 1978. (AP Photo/Kish)

Footnotes

1. The Indian Express. “Charan Singh’s Birth Anniversary: When He Got Indira Gandhi Arrested,” December 24, 2024. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-politics/kisan-diwas-charan-singh-indira-gandhi-arrested-9740565/. ↩

2. The Indian Express. “December 20, 1978, Forty Years Ago: Indira Jailed,” December 20, 2018. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/forty-years-ago-indira-jailed-lok-sabha-indian-national-congress-chikmagalur-5501228/. ↩